Thankfully, as COVID-19 has spread its cloud across the world and impacted few industries as hard as hospitality, hospitality has met the challenge and helped communities to adapt to the pandemic.
In a country renowned for warm hospitality, Ireland, The K Club and Dromoland Castle have both extended Irish hospitality to their respective local communities.
134 temporary Five-Star homes for healthcare workers
The K Club, one of Ireland’s most exclusive hotels, is conveniently located 30 minutes away from Dublin in the naturally beautiful landscape of County Kildare. The 18th century French-inspired chateau-turned hotel is surrounded by over 500 acres of Irish countryside and two championship golf courses.
Following the hotel’s recent short-term closure, the owner of the estate Michael Fetherston, has offered to support the State for free during the current crisis by housing healthcare workers who may have been separated from their families for periods of time, or to house people with illness in the hotel’s 134 rooms.
Supporting school children and parents
Dromoland Castle is steeped in Irish history and culture and set on a country estate surrounded by forests, lakes and rolling green hills. To help parents entertain now-home-schooled children in Ireland, they have teamed up with Limerick artist Una Heaton to give arts and crafts lessons on the hotel’s YouTube channel. The first lesson is below, a tutorial on how to construct an easy-to-make Dromoland Castle using materials from around the house.
We spoke with Preferred Hotels and Resorts Managing Director, UK, Ireland, Nordics & the Netherlands, Brenda Collin about the initiatives, who proudly told us: “We are delighted to see two of our Irish hotels helping their communities through COVID-19. Healthcare workers are on the front line, so temporary homes at The K Club are helping them to adapt to circumstances none of us have ever seen before.
“For parents with young children at home, keeping them occupied, and productively, is a huge challenge. The initiative to ‘broadcast’ ways to challenge young minds, and help parents is a huge help to many. Dromoland Castle and The K Club are both doing what they can to alleviate the impact from COVID-19 in their communities, and I am proud of what they are both doing.”
From the conversation with Brenda Collin we hope to bring more examples of Preferred Hotels & Resorts helping more communities through the COVID-19 crisis.
We have seen the video, Build Your Own Dromoland Castle, for children and parents looking to occupy time productively it’s a revelation. Readers may have a Blue Peter moment while watching.
